2009 Legislative Session: Issues to Watch
CIVIC Concern | | 
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We're just one week into the 2009 legislative session and, facing an unprecedented budget crisis, legislators are throwing out all sorts of ideas...good, bad and ugly.
Just a few of the proposals: taxing bottled water companies that currently pump our natural resource for free and sell it back to us for $1 a bottle (good); making further cuts to the already strained education budget (bad); raiding the pre-paid college fund to help balance the budget, risking the money families have entrusted to the state to pay for their children's college education (downright ugly).
Read this article to learn more about what's happening in Tallahassee and how you can take action.
Tell us what you think of these proposals. Let us know if there are other legislative issues you think CIVIC should be monitoring. And share ideas you think legislators ought to be considering.
Property tax reform
CIVIC Concern | | 0
All we're hearing about right now is the property tax "crisis" and various proposals touted to fix it. But should we be rushing to make drastic changes to such a fundamental state system? For an explanation of where this crisis came from and an analysis of the various proposals by a respected expert, take a look at the article by Larry Fuchs, former head of the Florida Department of Revenue.
Speaker Rubio and the House Republicans want to eliminate or drastically reduce property taxes and increase the sales tax by 2.5%. But in a state that relies heavily on tourism, do we really want to have the highest sales tax rate in the country? Plus, the sales tax is a regressive tax that has the heaviest impact on those with the lowest incomes.
House Democrats have put forward a complex proposal that would benefit low- and middle-income homeowners the most. But it does little to assist renters. And experts have expressed doubt whether it will have much effect on the flagging home market.
Maybe the real answer is that we need to put together a blue ribbon panel of experts and give them six months to come up with a comprehensive, equitable solution to revamp the system. Rushing to address this crisis to score political points will just cause us bigger problems in the future.
What are your thoughts?